Candied Orange Peel, With Sugar or Low Carb
Whether you use it in sweet bread and cakes, you enjoy it as such, simple or glazed with black chocolate - the candied orange peel is a simple and cheap treat and it can also be low carb! I really don't understand why I haven't made it before, especially since every time I buy candied peel for sweet bread, I think the price is ridiculously high for the quantity of orange peel they offer in a package... By the way, you can make candied lemon peel, lime or even grapefruit the same way.
Maybe I just hadn't found the right recipe and I hadn't known that candied orange peel could be low carb too if the sugar was replaced with sweetener (see all the directions below). We had so much fun with this flavourful and special dessert and each one was free to choose their favourite. There were many different opinions but still, the favourite remained the candied peel glazed with chocolate.
A simple dessert, it's flavourful, delicious, interesting, vegan, low carb and festive - you really shoud try it this period of the year!
Wash the oranges thoroughly under hot water and maybe use a bit of eco dish detergent.
Then peel the oranges, eat the fruit with your family (I usually store it in the fridge).
Take the peel, clear off the excess of pith and cut into uniform strips.
You can leave the peel bits without a clear shape like this, you don't have to cut them all into strips.
Put the peel in a pot, pour enough water to cover it completely and place over heat.
When it comes to the boil, simmer for 2-3 more minutes.
Then drain the water.
Return to the pan, recover with water, bring to the boil, simmer for 2-3 minutes and drain again.
We need to repeat this procedure 3 times, so the bitter taste goes away as much as possible.
After draining 3 times, transfer the peel onto some kitchen paper and pat dry.
Combine 300g sugar and water in a 28-30cm large pan. Place over heat and stir frequently until sugar is dissolved and it comes to the boil.
For the low carb recipe combine the water with 150g sweetener.
Now add the peel to this syrup.
Simmer over high heat.
In 15-20 minutes, water will evaporate completely, you can see there is nothing left in the pan.
Remove from heat and let cool for about 1 hour.
After this time, arrange the peel strips on a platter. Let dry at room temperature or in the fridge. Mine (the ones with sugar) were already well dried the next day.
The peel candied with sweetener takes longer to dry and it should be kept in the fridge (or in a cool place).
You can see here what the low carb peel looks like.
Once dried, sprinkle over some more sugar/sweetener.
Now you can transfer the peel strips to jars/airtight containers and store preferably in the fridge, especially the low carb ones.
The peel without a clear shape can be cut into small dice, for sweet bread and cakes.
If you want it to be more fun, you can melt a bit of your favourite black chocolate and dip the candied orange peel in it.
Shake a bit each strip of peel, then spread out on a parchment paper lined baking sheet.
Refrigerate until the chocolate sets, then serve!
Enjoy!
